SURVEY: Bilingual education -- Worth it or Not?

[Scott]

The government has a rather ambitious plan to introduce bilingual education throughout the kingdom.   In your opinion, do you believe this move will significantly result in better English skills or will it be a waste of money?

 

Please feel free to leave a comment?

 

For further reading:  

 

[Emdog]

Better question might be: Is bilingual education possible here?

[rohitsuk]

31 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Better question might be: Is bilingual education possible here?

Well, it is certainly possible and there are many good and well established examples but, of course at a price and a pretty considerable one too.  My grandsons both went to Bangkok Bilingual School and Waree Chiang Mai International School and they are virtual native speakers but with a Thai/British family supporting.

 

For the state system the need is for bilingual teachers in the first place which are almost nonexistant and not for the English teaching, as now, to be dumpped on the PE teacher to fill up his timetable and because nobody else wants or is capeable of doing it.

[EricTh]

I thought I heard from some Thai people that they start learning English from grade 1 onwards? So isn't that already bilingual?

[Happy Grumpy]

On 11/17/2019 at 2:14 AM, Scott said:

In your opinion, do you believe this move will significantly result in better English skills or will it be a waste of money?

One can't honestly answer such a question with such limited information.

 

Who will be the English teachers? Thais? Native English Speakers? Non-Native Speakers from South Africa? NNES from the Philippines? 

What qualifications will they have?

How many hours per day will they spend with their class?

Will they be homeroom (one class teachers, shared with one Thai teacher) or will they teach different lessons to different classes everyday?

 

Answer these questions please so we can properly vote. 

 

[atyclb]

the only thing that would improve the situation is 20 megatons . (what a thai person said)

[Suradit69]

Why does "bilingual" imply that English would be the second language?

 

There could be an argument for Chinese as the second or third language.

 

While English is essentially an international  "lingua franca"  currently, the Chinese influence in this part of the world is bound to be increasingly significant.

[Momofarang]

Of course I hope it'll fail. I want my girls to keep their phenomenal advantage.

[Angry Dragon]

6 minutes ago, Momofarang said:

Of course I hope it'll fail. I want my girls to keep their phenomenal advantage.

In Buriram?  Not much of an advantage unless they head to the city.

[AlexRich]

Most expats come to Thailand’s to improve their Cunnilingual skills.

[CM Dad]

It is a good idea but avoid both Thai government and Catholic schools.  Both have a tendency to hire non-native speakers from ASEAN countries because they are cheaper to employ.

[Orton Rd]

4 minutes ago, CM Dad said:

It is a good idea but avoid both Thai government and Catholic schools.  Both have a tendency to hire non-native speakers from ASEAN countries because they are cheaper to employ.

Or even Africans

[stubuzz]

8 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

13 minutes ago, CM Dad said:

It is a good idea but avoid both Thai government and Catholic schools.  Both have a tendency to hire non-native speakers from ASEAN countries because they are cheaper to employ.

Or even Africans

They are the only ones who will accept the low pay. The qualified have moved to other countries where the salary and conditions are greater.

[spornb]

English is so important, also the language of Asian

 

In thailand teaching stinks and most english teachers can not talk acceptable English, so the results will reflect this

 

I am looking for a way to send a stepson to Australia to learn english, any help or pointers appreciated

[Matzzon]

Unfortunately there is no choice in the poll for my answer. I am not saying it´s right, but it´s my opinion.

The though of bilingual education is extremely good. If the students had the interest, and the techers had the capacity to do this in the right way, it would work fantastic. 

Unfortunately it´s like I have my daughter in private school second grade. Ever since she started Kindergarten, 5 years ago) I have been checking the english books. They are made by professors and edited by 3 other highly educated persons before they go in print. All the books I find english error in, spelling mistakes and even totally wrong formulated questions.

See, there is no help and interest even on the highly educated level, or it might just be the even their education sucks big time.

[fruitman]

59 minutes ago, Angry Dragon said:

In Buriram?  Not much of an advantage unless they head to the city.

Maybe they marry one of the international racers at the circuit! Valentino Rossi or so....

[Orton Rd]

Know a few kids going to so called bi lingual Catholic Schools, they all come round to our house for lessons off the Mrs in English.

[chainarong]

They would need to recruit English speakers with an Literature degree at considerable cost,  local English speakers do not pronounce English or spell it properly they have a tendency to spell that as dat, young degree holders who wish to do a bridging course in a western country to become fully qualified not half qualified struggle with reading writing and speaking English, the prognosis doesn't look good.

 

[jvs]

I like to compare things to see a different view.

Do we need high speed trains?Not really lets improve the slow ones we have

and make it double tracks which will save alot of time and accidents.

Do we need bilingual education?

Try education first and then people can decide for themselves what is important.

[GalaxyMan]

3 hours ago, Emdog said:

Better question might be: Is bilingual education possible here?

Even better question might be is any education possible here? They do an abysmal job of educating their citizens. They only seem to teach rote memorization, nothing about critical thinking. The cruelty that teachers display towards their students that we are constantly reading about is criminal, yet it seems to be the norm.

[Artisi]

32 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Unfortunately there is no choice in the poll for my answer. I am not saying it´s right, but it´s my opinion.

The though of bilingual education is extremely good. If the students had the interest, and the techers had the capacity to do this in the right way, it would work fantastic. 

Unfortunately it´s like I have my daughter in private school second grade. Ever since she started Kindergarten, 5 years ago) I have been checking the english books. They are made by professors and edited by 3 other highly educated persons before they go in print. All the books I find english error in, spelling mistakes and even totally wrong formulated questions.

See, there is no help and interest even on the highly educated level, or it might just be the even their education sucks big time.

Nothing new, I actually wrote to a couple of publishers a few years back about errors in their "English" books, some major mistakes - still waiting for acknowledgement, at about the same time I also emailed to an English publisher about a minor mistake - received a thank you back the following day - 

What does that indicate? 

[J Town]

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

Why does "bilingual" imply that English would be the second language?

 

There could be an argument for Chinese as the second or third language.

 

While English is essentially an international  "lingua franca"  currently, the Chinese influence in this part of the world is bound to be increasingly significant.

Far too many countries have already invested in English - street signs are a huge expense and that won't change in out lifetime.

[new2here]

As others note, I think it really is a case of “the Devil is in the details” in that what exactly will this look like? Who will teach it? What will be the curriculum be? etc...

 

I think it IS very possible to have a system that produces higher qualified students with competitive skills that put them at an advantage for careers that can give them solidly middle class to upper middle class lifestyles.

 

but... I think it really depends on all those variables which decide what happens at the end.

 

the other thing I think about is this... will the domestic Thai economy have enough jobs open for these new higher skilled graduates??  
 

 I mean it’s all fine and dandy to create better graduates, but if the domestic economy can’t create enough organic demand for them, then I think you end up with either underemployment (seeking jobs they are overqualified for or seek part-time emolument), flat out unemployment or new graduates that have to seek jobs overseas (think the Philippines massive OFW population)

[Alex2554]

6th grade (12yo) English book for Thai government schools

[Solinvictus]

Maybe it will cause a higher demand in Native English speakers along with better pay. I'd like to see that, of course.

I think of course it's worth it. It's a positive effort to improve the general English ability of the country particularity students in the future. Can schools foster such positive environments for both well-paid teachers and motivation for the students were are strong academically. Sounds good and is good but will it really happen, probably, not significantly.

[emptypockets]

3 hours ago, Happy Grumpy said:

One can't honestly answer such a question with such limited information.

 

Who will be the English teachers? Thais? Native English Speakers? Non-Native Speakers from South Africa? NNES from the Philippines? 

What qualifications will they have?

How many hours per day will they spend with their class?

Will they be homeroom (one class teachers, shared with one Thai teacher) or will they teach different lessons to different classes everyday?

 

Answer these questions please so we can properly vote. 

 

Why do they need to be native English speakers?

When I learnt Latin it certainly wasn't from a Roman Centurion.

I learnt French from an Ozzy teacher.

I had a couple of beers with a youngish guy from Liverpool in Soi 4 last week. I reckon I understood every third word he said. NES is no guarantee of being able to teach English.

[Denim]

Confucious say , you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

 

With just one language to grapple with the standard of education is already not very impressive. Introducing more complications will probably make things worse.

[Suradit69]

57 minutes ago, J Town said:

Far too many countries have already invested in English - street signs are a huge expense and that won't change in out lifetime.

Not sure if street signs are a major consideration when deciding whether or not to study a second language. For students in Thailand, signage in Thailand would still be in Thai even if they may or may not include English.

 

It seems Chinese could be an advantage for people seeking employment  in import/export business, tourism connected work, retail work etc.

 

 

 

 

[Number 6]

2 hours ago, CM Dad said:

It is a good idea but avoid both Thai government and Catholic schools.  Both have a tendency to hire non-native speakers from ASEAN countries because they are cheaper to employ.

Rubbish. I've taught at five different schools in the past six years. During my time there I worked with no NNES in my department. There are good religious schools that employ many NES still.

 

Avoid Thai schools? What horrible advice. Top international schools aside all the competition is to get INTO Thai HS. Same with universities. Private universities are not good here to be certain.

 

Schools past six years, first hand:

1 No NNES 20 teachers

2. No NNES in EP English. Subjects were Filipino. IP all NES.

3. Same as above.

4. 8 NES teachers, 1 Filipino

5. All NES teaching LS, RW or very close. 30 teachers NES easy.

 

#2-4 schools NOW use as many NNES as possible because they do not want to pay 50-60-70k for teachers. 4 now has 3/8 foreign teachers it's a good school but being public has pay limits. The better Catholic schools and Christian schools pay ok and still employ many NES.

[Number 6]

34 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Why do they need to be native English speakers?

When I learnt Latin it certainly wasn't from a Roman Centurion.

I learnt French from an Ozzy teacher.

I had a couple of beers with a youngish guy from Liverpool in Soi 4 last week. I reckon I understood every third word he said. NES is no guarantee of being able to teach English.

Writing in particular. Vocabulary. Pronunciation. Am/Brit literature. Getting these skills from NNES imo is hopeless.

 

Standard big classroom for 30k. Have at it bro.

 

No guarantee that NNES can teach English either AND they are NNES!

 

I do agree about some of the Anglo Irish accents though. In Asia the North American accent preferred as is the spelling / vocab. I've only known two Thai kids with British accents (they were clean). One had Brit father, another studied with British teacher for years. Oh, another lots of time in Wales.